Brake-shoe.



Patented June 5, I900.

J. D., GALLAGHER.

B RA K E S H 0 E. (Applicatibn filed Oct. 19, 1899.

(No Model.)

NITED STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

JOSEPH D. GALLAGHER, OF GLEN RIDGE, NEIV JERSEY.

BRAKE-SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 651,031, dated June 5, 1900.

Application filed 0ctoherl9, 1899. Serial No. 734,063. (No model.)

To ctZZ 1071,0772, iv may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH D. GALLAGHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Glen Ridge,in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brake-Shoes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Myinvention relates to brake-shoes used on locomotives and cars propelled by power of any description.

I'Ieretofore brake-shoes have been made of cast-iron, either with or without inserts of other material and with or without chilled sections, the inserts and chilled sections when used being ordinarily used to lengthen the life of the shoe by retarding its Wear. In all these kinds of brake-shoes there has been one great defect-via, that when the shoe was Worn in use, so as to be only from one-half to three-quarters of an inch thick it had a great tendency to break across the shoe when applied with unusual force, this tendency, of course,being more pronounced in shoeshaving very deep inserts or chills, but present in all cast-iron shoes by reason of the granular nature of the metal-and not only has there been this tendency to break across the shoe, but there has been a great tendency of the fastening and other lugs on these shoes to break either under the strain of service or inhandling the shoes during shipment, and this has come this teudencyin many ways.

been especially true of chilled shoes, owing to the character of the metal from which they are necessarily cast. It has been sought-to over- Some inventors have inserted in the casting rods running longitudinally of the shoe, some steel mesh and some wires, while others have employed'backs of malleable iron, wrought-iron, or steel. All of these devices have the effect of more or less strengthening the shoe and of rendering less liable a break across the shoe, but none of these has done so perfectly, and most of them have been so expensive as to prevent their use, and all of them have had either one of two serious defects-either no attempt was made to make the lugs onthe back of the shoe of ductile metal, in which, case they retained their liability to break off inuse or handling, or the lugs were formed wholly of the ductile metal, in which case the lugs were exceedingly apt to be bent in the ,fit and were therefore useless.

The ideal shoe, of course, is one which is practically unbreakable in handling or when worn thin, and one which at the same time cannot in any part be bent out of shape by rough usage, and which can also be cheaply made.

I have found after much experiment thata back for a brake-shoe may be made out of mild steel and formed in dies, so that the back and all the fastening devices for attaching the shoe to the brake-head are in one piece, that this back may be attached to a cast-iron wearing-face in such a Way that the cast-iron of the Wearing-face will reinforce the lugs or other fastening devices, thus stiffening them and insuring against bending, and this shoe thus made may be worn down until the back itself is wholly worn away even down to the brake-head. While I have used mild steel metal to be used for this purpose and shall 'use it in my description of the shoe, it is ob vious that any other metal that is capable of being formed in dies and has sufficient toughness or tenacity may be used in its stead. I refer especially to metals capable of being formed in dies, for the reason that while other methods of making the back of this invention may be usedsuch, for instance, as making them. out of malleable iron-and such a back would if the fastening devices were reinforced by a rigid metal be within this invention, still I do not now consider such a back practical on account of its great expense.

I will now proceed to describe the preferred form of my brake-shoe, both the back and face, and also the preferred method of making the same and will use as illustrative of my invention a plain Master Oar-Builders brake-- shoe adapted to fit a Christie head, and I will first describe the drawings.

Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section through one form of the back. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of that back looking from above.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through another form of the back. Fig. at is a perspective view of that back looking from above, showing the back'compieted by the second operation of the dies. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section through the completed shoe, showing how the face is attached to the back and how the back is reinforced by the cast metal. Fig. 6 is a plan View of one form of the back after the first operation to form it. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an alternative form of back, showing long rectangular openings in place of the numerous round openings shown in the other figures.

In all the figures likeletters of reference indicate like parts.

In the figures, A represents the steel back of the shoe.

B B representapertures in the back, which are shown round, except in Fig. 7, but may be ol'anydcsired shape. Through these apertures in the preferred method of making the shoe the molten iron runs and serves to bind the back firmly to the cast-iron portion of the shoe.

0 C represent the ends of the lugs in the Master Car Builders shoe against which the brake-head rests, which, as shown, are struck up out of the back.

D represents the central lug by which the shoeisattaohed to thebrake-head. Thislug is also struck up out of the steel back.

E represents the hole for the key which holds the brake-head onto the shoe.

F represents the cast portion of the shoe.

IIaving described the figures,Iwillnowproceed to describe the preferred method of m aking my improved brake-shoe.

I provide by preference two suitable presses, one furnished with dies adapted to shear and punch a metal blank. Into this I feed a sheet of mild rolled steel of the thickness desired for the back (I prefer steel one-quarter inch in thickness) and of a width a little greater than the length of the finished back. In the first operation the dies in this press will shear from the end of the plate a blank of the shape shown in Fig. 6 and of a width at the ends substantially the width of the brake-shoe and a width at the center of about twothirds the width of the shoe, and will also punch the holes B B, cut out the keyholes E E, and make the slits and strike up the lugs .O C. When this blank comes from the first press, it is perfectly flat, except as to the lugs C C,

,and is enough longer than it will be when finished to allow for the forming of the lug D in the next operation. Of course this length will differ in different shoes, depending on the size of the lug D and the amount of metal required for its formation. This blank is will depend entirely on the shape of the finished shoe, and it will be varied by varied dies to suit each case. This blank is now taken and placed in the second press to be formed to the required radius and to have thelug D struck up. hen the blank comes from the second press, it is in the form shown in section in Fig. 3 and in perspective in Fig. at, the central lug D has been formed, and the Whole back has been given the desired radius and in this operation has been shortened to the length of the brake-shoe or a tri fie less by the folding up of the metal in the formation of lug D. The back is now ready to be attached to the face of the shoe. I prefer to do this in the following manner: I first prepare the moldjust as I would if I intended to makea solid cast-iron shoe, only I have on the pattern small bosses corresponding with but larger than the holes or the rectangular apertures B B in the back. \Vhen the mold is formed, I insert into the mold at the back or top of the shoe the back, being careful to so place it that Where narrower than the shoe the iron will flow around its edges and embed it firmly in the cast metal, and insert in the keyhole E a core of the exact size of the required keyhole, and I anchor this back in any of the usual ways. hen this is done, I close the mold and pour in the molten iron, which forms the body F of the shoe. This molten iron flows through the holes behind. the end lugs C C and forms a backing or reinforcement for these lugs, as shown by the dotted lines G G in Fig. 5. It also flows through the holes or rectangular apertures B B and into the depressions behind them, made by the small bosses on the pattern, and forms the bosses shown at II II in Fig. 5. It also flows up into the lug D around the core E and reinforces the steel shells of thelug D, as shown at I in Fig. 5. It also flows around the edges of the back where narrower than the shoe. Thus in this one operation Lboth firmly attach the back to the face of the shoeahddlalso strongly reinforce and stiifen the lugs on the back, on which the greatest strain comes in service and in handling. This enables me, if I so desire, to use even thinner metal than one-quarter inch, and it practically makes the back integral with the body of the casting. Of course it will be recognized that there are many ways of attaching the back to the face of the shoe, and I do not desire to confine myself to any particular method, though I know of no better way than that described, asIknowof no other manner of making the back practically an integral part of the shoe. Another style of perforation is shown in Fig. 7, where instead of the holes 13 B longitudinal apertures B B are shown. This has one advantage in that the bosses formed by the iron flowing through these slits will form rests for the key which attaches the brake-head to the shoe, and it also binds the back and shoe perhaps more firmlythan the other methods.

Having now described fully the preferred on a shoe having metal or other inserts which may be inserted through practically the entire depth of the cast portion of the shoe without endangeringbreakage; butit is especially useful in connection with a wearing-face of cast-iron,parts of which are chilled,to increase the life of the shoe. It is well known that chillin g portions of an iron casting very materially -weakens the casting,owing to the uneven contraction caused by the sudden cooling of the chilled parts, and this has prevented very deep chilling of cast-iron shoes. Not only is this true, but when chilled shoes are cast it becomes necessary to use what is known as chilling iron that is, iron which will'take a chill more or less readily. Of course the lugs, as Well as the rest of the shoe, have to be made of the same iron, and this frequently results in the lugs when small or having thin portions becoming chilled throughout and very brittle, and the breaking 0E of these small lugs has been the cause of much loss to railroads. Now when a steel back having the lugs formed upon it is attached to this chilled shoe it not only strengthens the body of the shoe, enabling the shoe to be worn right down to the brake-head,but itfurnishes tough stronglugs for attaching the shoe to the brakehead, which when reinforced by the cast-iron will not bend out of shape. It is seen, therefore, that this invention is especially useful when shoes chilled in sections are desired.

While the back of this invention is especially useful with all chilled shoes, there is one form of chilled shoes to which it is better adapted than others. I refer to a brake-shoe chilled on its sides and ends, as shown in the patent to Samuel Hatt of October 1, 1889, No. 411,861. This shoe has, as is there shown, a margin of chilled iron around its sides and ends; but the central portion of the shoe is not chilled. When the back of this invention is attached to a face chilled, in that way, the iron that flows through the apertures B B in the back and into the lug D does not come into contact with the chilling-blocks, and is consequently softer and less liable to break. I prefer, therefore, when using a chilled face or wearing portion with this back to chill from the sides and ends and not from the face.

' The advantages arising from the use of the back of this invention have already been fully set forth and nothing more need be said, except that by means of this invention a castiron shoe even when chilled is given practically all the strength of a steel shoe at a fraction of its cost and with a much better frictional resistance and much better effect on the wheels.

I am aware that others have proposed to strengthen cast-iron shoes by attaching to them malleable-metal backs, and I do not therefore claim, broadly, such a back.

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. brake-shoe consisting of a back made of a ductile metal having one or more fastening devices integral therewith and the projecting portions of such fastening devices reinforced by projections from the cast metal of the shoe, in combination with a cast-metal body or'wearing-face substantially as de scribed.

2. A brake-shoe consisting of a back made of a ductile metal by forming the same in dies" and having one or more fastening devices integral therewith, and the projecting portions of such fastening devices reinforced by projections from the cast metal of the shoe, in combination with a cast-metal body or wearing-face substantially as described.

3. A brake-shoe consisting of a back made of mild steel by forming the same in dies and having one or more fastening devices integral therewith and the projecting portions of such fastening devices reinforced by projections from the cast metal of the shoe, in combination with a body or wearing-face consisting of cast-iron chilled in sections substantially as described.

4. A brake-shoe consisting of a back made of mild steel by forming the same in dies and having one or more fastening devices integral therewith and the projecting portions of such fastening devices reinforced by projections from the cast metal of the shoe in combination with a body or wearing-face consisting of cast-iron chilled on its sides and ends, substantially as described.

5. A brake-shoe having one or more fastening devices to attach it to the brake-head made of a ductile metal reinforced in their projecting portions by projections from the cast metal of the shoe, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH D. GALLAGHER.

Witnesses:

FRANK B. SMITH, CHARLES W. BROWER. 

